Liverpool Council needs its politicians and officers “to hit the ground running” to maintain the change it has made over the last six months according to the lead government appointed commissioner.
More than halfway into their stay at the Cunard Building, the team of five Whitehall-mandated officials have given a more positive outlook on the progress of the city council. The team, led by Mike Cunningham, was put in place at Liverpool Council back in June 2021 after the scathing Caller Report.
The 25-page report, submitted to Secretary of State Michael Gove, said there was “cause for cautious optimism” but acknowledged challenges still remained for the city two years into the intervention. Speaking to the ECHO, Mr Cunningham said: “In the second report, we were highly critical of the pace of change, the urgency, the grip.
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“We said if that didn't tighten up across the board, the intervention was in a perilous position. We asked for an additional commissioner because we were concerned about financial management and financial resilience, so I'm very pleased to say in this report, we can say that we have observed a change in the pace, a change in the urgency, a change in the grip.”
In their third report to the government, the commissioners singled out interim chief executive Theresa Grant and Mayor Joanne Anderson for praise. The officials wrote how Ms Grant had delivered “transformational leadership” and her appointment had been the “key factor in the sustained shift” they had witnessed.
Mr Cunningham said: “The best example of what's changed has been getting the budget to the position that it’s in. The city council went from a standing start to getting some viable credible options on the table to deal with a big financial challenge for next year.
“Now, all councils face those sorts of decisions, what's different about Liverpool is that there wasn't a well tried and tested finance planning process in place that other councils rely on very heavily, so that had to be introduced quickly.”
The lead commissioner, a former police chief, said “strong political leadership” was required to say difficult decisions were required. He added: “The other thing that gives us cause for cautious optimism is a theme of the problems that we've set out in previous reports has been the capacity and capability challenges in the city council.”
Mr Cunningham acknowledged with the period of change ahead, with a new chief executive and political leadership on the horizon, “there’s always an element of risk.” He said: “One thing that Liverpool Council doesn't have a lot of, in terms of making improvements, is time.
“We need the new officers, the new politicians, to move quickly, hit the ground running and put things in place as quickly as they possibly can to maintain the momentum that we've seen developed over the past six to nine months.” With a more positive outlook from the report, Mr Cunningham said he expected his team’s role to change as the invention moved into its second half.
He said: "When we first came in, that was firefighting, there were immediate problems to resolve and make sure that things were fixed. We always expected that to be the case, by the way.
“Then as the intervention moves on, this becomes much more about building for the future. When we move on from here, when this intervention ends, we need Liverpool Council to continue improving, so this isn't about quick fixes.
“It's about long term, structural change, really.” At the time of the last report, Mr Cunningham told the LDRS his relationship with the city’s political leaders had vastly improved from when they first met almost two years ago.
Reacting to the report last night, Mayor Joanne Anderson repeated her stance of wanting the officials “out the door” next June, a position Mr Cunningham said he understood. He said: “Nobody wants commissioners here, which I’m fine about, I understand that.
“Taxpayers in Liverpool want their council out of intervention, they want it to be standing on its own two feet, providing good services, giving value for money and providing best value. That's a reasonable expectation, they don't want commissioners having to do what we're doing.
“I'm not looking for a world class, best in class leader. I'm looking for a council that's good enough, but also has the ingredients in place to continue making those improvements on behalf of the people who pay for the services.”
Looking at the challenges remaining for the local authority, Mr Cunningham said continuing to change the culture within the Cunard remained tough for his team, likening it to “turning a tanker around.” He said: “What you are doing with culture change is altering the way people approach their work, altering the way people behave towards each other, altering the way leaders lead and managers manage.
“Sometimes people's long standing view of what their jobs are all about are altered and that's hard because people get used to a way of working and sometimes it is a bit like turning a tanker around. It's unsurprising that there's still work to do in that area.
“We came into an organisation that didn't have a recent history of valuing transparency, valuing openness and accountability, of dealing with decision making in a very structured and clear way. All of those things have taken some time and will continue to take some time to improve.”
Further afield, the lead commissioner said leaving the council in June 2024 was the timetable he and his team were working towards but said he needed cast iron guarantees the council was in a better place than it was found if they were to step away completely on time. Mr Cunningham said: “We can't leave here until we are satisfied that the council is viable, is working well, and crucially, that the improvements are sustainable.
“Frankly, if those improvements had been made after a year, then we'd have gone after a year. Hopefully that will happen within the three year window, if they don't, then we cannot conclude the intervention. It’s as clear as that, there's a lot to do in the next months rather than years now.”
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